Sunday, February 21, 2010

It's been far too long since I've caught a double feature at the New Beverly Cinema, but the theater will always hold a place in my heart for its role in my discovery of the films of John Woo and Jackie Chan. After reporting on the possible demise of my favorite theater in the world a few months back, it sadly came as no surprise that the New Beverly was also in financial trouble.

That was about when I ran into [Quentin Tarantino] at Sundance. He confirmed to me that he was paying the theater's rent and that he was looking in to buying it. Who would have imagined it would have taken years for it to go through? But it has, and now Quentin Tarantino is officially the owner of the New Beverly.

But don't expect the theater to suddenly turn into Tarantinoland (although they have been playing midnights of Reservoir Dogs for years, and recently started doing midnights of Inglorious Basterds). Tarantino has always let Sherman's son, Michael, run the business as he wanted to, with the input of the beautiful Julia Marchese and the slightly less beautiful but very brilliant Phil Blankenship. They, along with Michael, make the New Bev work day in and day out, and Tarantino occasionally steps in to program something special.

And so the New Beverly is safe. And it will be safe for some time to come - "As long as I'm alive, and as long as I'm rich, the New Beverly will be there, showing double features in 35mm," Tarantino said.

Best of all, it's only $7 for a double feature. Let's help make this worth Tarantino's investment.

Yeah, Gremlins was awesome. Maybe it's because of my age at the time, but to me 1984 might be the best overall cinematic year of my lifetime. Gremlins, Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, Breakin', Terminator...

Now he needs to replace the seats.. i can never make it through the second movie in a double feature because of the 70's springs in the seats bruising my bony ass.

Also.. whoever talked about the Balboa... that theater has been shut down since as early as I can remember.. And that's being 7 years old saying "Mom... mom.. mommy.. mom... why don't... mom... mom hey mom.... ummmm why dont they show movies there ever?" Yes the Lido still exists.